Winners of the Under 70 Section of the IHFA National Herds Competition
L-R: 1st Richard Whelan, Clonard, Co. Meath, 2nd Philip Jones, Gorey, Co. Wexford, 3rd Michael Nolan, Borris Co. Carlow pictured with (far left) Gordon Richardson, Greenvale Feeds, Sponsors
An average price of €2,200 was achieved at the sale of young pedigree heifers as part of the IHFA Open Day.
As part of the Irish Holstein Friesian Association (IHFA) National Open Day, which was held recently on the Taylor family farm “Cloonboygher”, Newtowngore, Co. Leitrim a special sale of 30 pedigree young heifers took place, which represented the best cow families in the Cloonboygher Herd.
This was the first occasion for the Open Day to be held in Co. Leitrim and a large crowd, well in excess of 2,000, was in attendance with dairy farmers travelling from every corner of the country, Northern Ireland and the UK.
The standard of the sale was excellent and it sale attracted huge support from the local area and members of the West Midlands and Breffni Oriel clubs who recognised the potential for hard working cow families with excellent protein developed on the farm over a lifetime of breeding by the Taylors.
There was a very steady trade with a top price of €3,000 for Cloonboygher Emerald Anna 2 from three generations of EX cows, Protein to 3.7% and EBI 101. The overall average on the day was €2,200.
The Open Day was well attended by milk producers, pedigree breeders, trade, farm organizations,Macra na Feirme, Teagasc personnel and the Agri –media. Sixty commercial firms and organisations had trade stands. These included Lakeland Dairies, Greenvale, FBD Insurance and Volac who were the main sponsors.
